Just had an email from Rockstar letting us know the official LCS website has been updated. There's loads more information on there now and new screenshots, downloads and audio.

And the long awaited second trailer is now online. Make sure you watch that.

There's also a page on the new multiplayer game modes we found out about earlier. Get Stretch and Liberty City Survivor are there, along with one we haven't heard about so far called Protection Racket. It seems that teams will be swapping between attacking and defending roles each round. Once the attackers have reached the defenders base, they must destroy the four limo's parked inside, after accomplishing that, the roles reverse and a new round begins.

There are 13 new screenshots on the site which I have added to our Gallery.

That's right, Liberty City Stories will be the first console GTA game to properly feature a multiplayer mode.

The game will support up to six players at any one time, each game takes place on one of the islands. There will be seven game modes, two of which, 1UP got to play with.

Liberty City Survivor (you'll remember the GTA3 radio ad) is basically a Deathmatch. It can be played solo or team, and obviously the player/team with the most kills (or frags if you're an FPS gamer) is the winner.

Another game mode is Get Stretched, this is a version of Capture the Flag, except you'll be stealing the other teams' limousine!

They both contain a multitude of power ups that you might expect from a multiplayer game. These include mega damage, bullet-proof, radar invisibility etc.

We can assume from the article that these multiplayer modes will only be playable in Ad-hoc mode (with people nearby). It's not actually confirmed though so hopefully Rockstar will explain more at some point.

European gaming website Totalvideogames have just posted their preview for Liberty City Stories which they got to play earlier this month. The only new thing from the preview is that Liberty City Stories will feature more radio stations than GTA3 and of course a wide variety of licensed songs which should be announced later next month. There are also 3 new screenshots with one showing Toni jumping through the air on a Sanchez. Also check out the other screenshots which are at a staggering 960x554 resolution!

The team over at gtaT just finished 0.1c of their multiplayer San Andreas mod. Download it from our database. The new version has many new features and doesn't crash so often. For now this and Online Andreas are the only available multiplayer mods for San Andreas, but my money was on SA-MP which unfortunately got cancelled. So now the 2 mods to look forward to is the ever so wonderful MTA SA and the extraordinary SanAnarchy which I will be testing later this week.

IGN have just put up their Hands-On Preview for Liberty City Stories. They discuss some of the missions they got to play and their overall impressions.

In fact, most of everything in LCS looks downright impressive. At the very least, it looks just as good as GTA: San Andreas on the PS2. At its best, though, LCS looks better due to improved environmental effects and other graphical flourishes. Water in LCS looks more lifelike than in GTA: San Andreas, for example, and vehicle reflections lend LCS a layer of polish missing from previous GTA games.

Read the rest of the article here and check out the new screenshots. More online previews are promised later this week by several gaming websites.

1UP.com have just put up their preview for Liberty City Stories telling us even more about the weapons in the game. The highlight of the preview is that cameras (that were seen in San Andreas) will make a return. So that most likely means we will be able to take screenshots of our own. There are also 10 new sceenshots as well as one new artwork image.

Ok we all do know that every now and then an occasional plane crash occurs in San Andreas. Jordan from PlanetGTA has written a nice article on this topic. He teaches you how to easily find this mysterious crashes and there is an interesting bit on how plane crashes got into the final game.

"Planes, like the rest of San Andreas, are drawn around CJ as he moves through the state. In Los Santos, you'll see high-flying commercial jets thousands of feet in the air. On the beaches of Santa Marina, there might be the occasional flyby of a biplane. Out in the country, smaller private aircraft are constantly buzzing around. When we first implemented the feature, we found that every once in a while a plane would spawn with a trajectory that led it directly into the side of a mountain or right into the ground. And we loved it, so it stayed."

- Craig Filshie, Rockstar Games

Click here to read the preview. You can also download several plane crash videos and even submit your own!

Leading gaming site IGN have posted up a nice article about the weapons you'll be using in Liberty City, there are also some nice new screenshots, including some showing of the HUD which is similar to San Andreas'.

Last year several leaked media spun onto the web which included photos of the box art, manual, the promotional poster and map of the PS2 version of San Andreas. The person who took these photos worked for the Take Two plant and stole a copy of the video game. The leaked copy was then later posted on several warez sites which allowed everyone to download San Andreas weeks before the release on October 26.

The FBI followed the case and then later captured the man known as "Stephen Dottoli". Yesterday, he was sentenced in federal court in Camden, NJ to two years probation. He also will have to serve six months on home confinement and pay a ,500 fine.

Even though Dottoli was a suspect for posting San Andreas onto the internet, the authorities couldn't find any effidence to prove it. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler says that he would have faced stiffer penalties if he had done so.

A lot of you will remember the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack which included both GTA3 and Vice City. It is likely that Rockstar will do the same and include all 3 recent games (GTA3, Vice, San Andreas) into a triple pack for a special price. Popular gaming website 1UP is now reporting that they heard from a special source that Rockstar will soon announce "Two GTA Special Editions".

The first is for Xbox owners, dubbed The Trilogy, and will include GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas together in one pack for .99. The second is the PS2 San Andreas Special Edition which will include the new version of the game, along with a second DVD featuring the prequel movie (previously only available if you bought the soundtrack CD) and the recently announced Sunday Driver feature.

It is highly possible and we will be updating you if any official announcements come our way. Read the rest at 1UP.

We haven't had an official word from Rockstar yet so we don't know how true this is.

UPDATE:Take Two released 2 press releases confirming this. The first states that the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy (which includes GTA3, Vice and San Andreas) will be released on October 18th 2005 for the Xbox. The price is still unknown.

The 2nd states that on October 18th 2005 Rockstar will release the "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Special Edition" for Playstation 2. This edition includes the full "M" rated San Andreas, the Introduction DVD and Rockstar's debut documentary film, Sunday Driver.

On a side note the official site for The Warriors has updated recently which includes never-before-seen movies and screenshots.

Rockstar will also be releasing a movie called "Sunday Driver" this fall which will be exclusively available on UMD. "Sunday Driver is an all-access documentary film that chronicles the Compton/Watts chapter of California’s low rider car club."

Also both Take Two and Rockstar Warehouse are now listing Liberty City Stories as "M" for mature. The exact details by the ESRB are "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs".

To cut a long story short, a very good online friend of mine and respectable forum staff member decided to interview me about the whole GTA scene and how it's changing. Xenon a.k.a Gerard Boyers, owner of The Technical Place has posted the interview on his website for you all to see, you might find it an interesting read if you haven't been around in the GTA community for long. We basically talk about how the community has changed, what makes it great and the future of it.

In other news a couple of notable downloads have been added, they are a 113+ Trainer complete with teleporter and garage editor, and the San Andreas Mod Installer (SAMI) allowing you to easily install virtually any modification, straight from .zip or .rar files or folders on your PC.

In the coming weeks I'll be making some more improvements to our download database, and on that note I'd like to point out that those of you who know I'm a fairly good PHP coder, it doesn't mean I'll do stuff for your website, especially as I have two other big ongoing projects to manage, not just this website.

The hit 2001 game GTA3 has been banned in Japan again, this time in the Saitama Prefecture.

It is now illegal to sell the game to anybody under the age of 18, and if retailers are caught they can be fined up to ¥300,000 Yen (,700 Dollars).

The government reckon the game is harming youths and promoting violence among them.

"I've seen the game myself and it's far too violent and obviously harmful," the governor of Saitama, Kiyoshi Ueda, told the paper. "Freedom of expression is one thing, but the wholesome upbringing of youths is also important and this was the only option."

After adding all JVT's Vice City mods over the past week, I thought we better fill up the San Andreas part of our database with his amazing mods, and they are all great. Here's an alphabetical list of the 26 mods he has made for San Andreas so far. We'll be adding new ones when he releases them.

This news post is a little late but I thought you should all know that the SA-MP team have stopped development of a San Andreas multiplayer mod and have handed it over to Spookie to basically re-make it.

However, they did release an update to their Vice City multiplayer mod, and also, one to play the Liberty City total conversion mod online which is a great feature.

Download VCMP 0.1d to play Vice City online, or LCMP 0.1d to play the Liberty City total conversion for Vice City online.

It's recommended if you're using an older version that you update it to this latest version.

IGN has recently putten up another preview for Liberty City Stories. It includes alot of info on new characters to be seen in the game along with 8 new screenshots. We will be adding them to our database once we recieve the unwatermarked versions from Rockstar.

Possibly one of the most amusing emails from Jack Thompson has arisen, and let's face it he does send out the most preposterous, ironic, and hypocritical emails you've ever seen. TheInquirer say he's sent out 4 more emails but it doesn't say what they were about, I don't think anybody takes him seriously anyway so it makes no difference.

Anyway, this time he's found the little mention of himself on the Official LCS Site where he is being portrayed as a sexual pervert complaining about the Internet and such. Jack is now crying his eyes out claiming Rockstar are bullying him. (we laughed as well).

Wake up and smell the coffee, Jack. You asked for it.

On a more serious note there are some previews of LCS that have surfaced with some much higher resolution screenshots than we have seen before. Check out Gamespy with the high res screenshots and 1up with a nice preview, oh and there's also a preview at EuroGamer we didn't mention.

One of the lesser publicised online San Andreas mods has had a second version released with many features. The guys at AlienX Software worked hard on this and the synching is pretty good on this one so give them a try. This version has:

- Totally 100% Syncd Vehicle Blocks

- Vehicles are now located around the whole map

- Default OA Setup has 4 spawn points!

- LOADS of Vehicles!

- Server-Side script support

- Faster Sync

- New Passenger Support (Totally Awesome I Might Add)

- Server Updates

- Client Updates

- Auto-Update System

- Help System Finished

- Client/Server Netcode Update

- Timeout System Totally Rewritten

- Minor Tweaks To Client And Server

- IRC Admin System

- Splash Screens (Random Images)

- RCON Admin System (Still Being Made, But Some Of It Works)

You can see more info on in game commands on the download page, download Online Andreas Reloaded 2.0 from our database and comment here and let us know how it plays.

Today, 13 September, GTA: San Andreas should be back on shelves of all retailers. If you were one of the few people who didn't have the opportunity to buy the game yet, then now is the time to go get one. The ESRB gave it an "Adults Only" rating due to the "hot coffee" mod that unlocked hidden sexually explicit content. The new version doesn't contain that content and is yet again rated "M" for Mature.

• The main areas of Liberty City (Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale) will be just as recognizable as GTA3, but have some tweaks: different short cuts, alleys, buildings, and some interiors have been thrown in for good measure too.

• Character customization is not as extensive as in San Andreas, more akin to that seen in Vice City, with certain outfits required for specific missions.

• The ferries system will work much the same way as the subway and the El-Train system.

The American publication PSM was sent out recently to subscribers and it contained a nice article pertaining to the Playstation 3 and details on some of the games. There is a huge list of titles from current and new developers. Of course it had Rockstar with 2 titles. One is a Western-themed action game and the other is ...... GTA4.

According to PSM the PS3 should be available worldwide in 9 months or so. Interestingly they had some information on GTA4. We quote:

“…specifically, [Rockstar] are going to be using the high data transfer bandwidth of the Cell CPU, RSX GPU, and Blu-ray Disc to use several streams of game info simultaneously.”

Rockstar North is said to have had its dev kit since August this year and is currently working on a brand new game engine for their next-gen GTA titles. Rockstar is aiming to create a photo-realistic city for GTA 4, complete with seriously advanced AI for the game's NPCs.

The game's city is still unknown, but we do know that it will be broken down into smaller, more detailed areas at the engine level, into which the game designers are going to be able to pour more textures, more object variety, and tons of details such as discarded soda cans with their own physics.

Expect screenshots and more detailed info on this title early next year.

If you're on the Rockstar mailing list you will have noticed after the Liberty City Stories announcement there was a small paragraph about the Limited Edition GTA3 Kubrick Sets now available at the Rockstar Warehouse, along with some new apparel. There's only 3000 of these sets worldwide, and the R* Warehouse only has 50, so if you want them you better act quick.

We are proud to announce the release of the Grand Theft Auto 3 Kubrick figure collection - a limited-edition box set

brought to you by Rockstar Games and Medicom Toy Corporation featuring all your favorite Liberty City stars of

high and low society: 8-Ball, Misty, Donald Love, Salvatore Leone and of course the strong and silent protagonist.

Stock at the Rockstar Warehouse is limited to only 50 pieces! So get in there and cop yours post-haste.

Also available at the Warehouse is an all-new fall collection of Rockstar apparel -

Rockstar just emailed us to say the official site for Liberty City Stories has just been updated with screens and teaser videos.

The official site contains "emails" with information on characters and new screens, and also the trailer to feast your eyes on. The game will be released in North America on October 25th.

Expect a huge overhaul of LCS content on The GTA Place over the weekend. We've added all the Screenshots to the site. At the official site you can view the trailer in either Windows Media or QuickTime.

Tomorrow we'll be updating all our content pages with much more comprehensive stuff.

Official Playstation 2 Magazine Australia, the magazine that sparked a debate over whether Shoreside Vale had been expanded has some more information for you to cast your eyes over.

Back in June it was reported that the Shoreside Vale district had been expanded, and again in this issue they claim "a mystery land mass" can be seen from Portland. Bearing in mind they're getting the same preview as everyone else but nobody else seems to be reporting this.

A new character will be in Liberty City, Vincenzo Cilli, a mob boss working under the Leone family will be dishing out missions to you early in the game.

Popular radio station Chatterbox FM is set to return, presumably with Lazlow as the host, at least I'm hoping so, also The Liberty Jam, a new station will be blaring in your ears.

The Porter Tunnel that connected the trio of islands in GTA3 will apparently not feature in this game, apparently ferry workers are angry that building a tunnel will put them out of a job (evidently it did as GTA3 saw no ferries).

So that's all the info, no new screens. We'll update you when we receive anything else worth knowing.

Take Two have just this minute sent out a press release with their 3rd quarter fiscal results. There was no mention of Liberty City Stories in the PR, except that it will be released in the 4th quarter of this year which we already knew.

Later in the fourth quarter Rockstar is introducing an all new Grand Theft Auto title: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, for the PSP in North America and Europe.

Other GTA related updates in the press release came in the form of the Japanese release of San Andreas. The best selling videogame of all time will hit the shelves in stores all over Japan some time during the 3rd quarter.

Take-Two is updating its fiscal 2005 guidance primarily to reflect the movement of Bully for PlayStation 2 and Xbox out of the current fiscal year to provide additional development time for the title, the movement of the Japanese launch of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PlayStation 2 out of the current fiscal year...

UPDATE: After listening to the conference call, a couple more points arose which might be of general interest:

You might remember about 3 weeks ago I discovered the possible teaser sites by researching domains owned by Rockstar. Well it turns out they've registered some more, Neil has found the following domains all on Rockstar's servers.

FreeCoq - Who knows what will go here, something humourous I would imagine. Also note that coq is French for cock (as in the bird not the phallic synonym) so Rockstar could easily do something with the pun here.

Lips106FM.com - The name of one of the confirmed radio stations that also appeared in GTA3, I personally don't think Rockstar will use this, they never used WCTR.org for the San Andreas radio station.

NewMarketingReadThis.com - This could be to do with Love Media, the internet was starting to get huge back in 1998 so it's probably the start of something new for them.

PauliesRevue.net - This is the name of Sex Club Seven before Lugi arrived on the scene. You'll get missions from JD O' Toole who owns this place.

So there we have all the domains, the other domain we didn't list was bathtubginstill.com, as this isn't in the same server location as the aforementioned domains, it also displays a file not found error message.

Having said all this Rockstar may never use them, we'll just have to wait.

Thanks to the latest issue of PSM, and it's supplementary DVD. We now have eight more Liberty City Stories Screenshots, you've probably seen them before in magazines but these ones are digital quality.

While I was registering my PSP at YourPSP.com I came across the Liberty City Stories section finding 3 low-quality digital screenshots and various bits of information. It also lists the game as an October 2005 release.

• An outstanding technical achievement, Liberty City Stories pushes the PSP to it absolute limit, resetting the publics understanding and expectations of what is possible on a hand held gaming system.

• See Liberty City like never before. Experience a whole new adventure in the three classic boroughs: Portland, Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale. Dripping with nostalgia, each neigbourhood has been meticulously created for the PSP with <b>all new businesses, pedestrians and adventures.</b>

• An all-new cinematic adventure that follows Toni Cipriani's return to Liberty City, his involvement with the Leone's, and their bitter turf war against the Sindacco family, the police force and the Mayors office.

• Freedom to play the game your way-play through the varied missions, or interact freely with the sprawling city.

• Drive the best vehicles from the Grand Theft Auto universe. Get on two wheels with the debut of motorcycles in Liberty City, <b>jack new cars</b>, trucks and other vehicles while they cruise the streets.

• Lookin' Sharp! For the first time <b>different outfits</b> have been made available to the player in Liberty City.

• Amazing 3D visuals on the PSP due to <b>enhanced draw distance, new lighting and shading models, as well as real-time reflections</b>.

UPDATE: The link goes to the South African Mirror of YourPSP.com because the page is no longer available on mirrors for other locales, for example on the UK mirror the page has been taken down for some unknown reason.

There have been many videos dedicated to GTA made over the past few years. Some of them bad, some of them pretty good. Jordan Liles, webmaster of PlanetGTA was kind enough to show me his latest production before he released it, and I thought it looked great already. Jordan has released the final version of it today, entitled "GTA Trilogy Tribute", I think it's the best video he's made to date.

Rockstar Games started a video game revolution with the release of Grand Theft Auto III. However, few knew what else they had in store. While 2001 brought GTA III, 2002 brought Vice City, a game that almost all critics claim was a game that was monstrously better than III. Then, Rockstar's ace marketing machine released a magazine at E3 2004, revealing their final plans for this mega-trilogy that will go down as one of the most successful of all time...

A few gaming websites (Gamer.nl and ToTheGame.com) have leaked what are seemingly digital quality screenshots of Liberty City Stories, while they aren't new, they are much better quality than magazine scans we have seen.

Both websites have been asked by Rockstar to remove the screens so it looks like they've made a mistake by showing us them.

Just a quick reminder to everyone that Sony have released their PSP across Europe and Australasia. A PSP will set you back around £179.99/€249.99 depending on what you purchase.

Many retailers and e-tailers have already sold out of their initial stock quota as it's in such high demand. Though at the time of posting, huge online shops such as Amazon.co.uk still have stock. Buying a PSP there along with Liberty City Stories will cost you just over £208 which is actually pretty good, probably at least a £10 saving on any high street price.

Tonight we also have the possibility of an official site update, still no word from Rockstar but today would be an apt time to coincide with the PSP release.

On a slightly related note last week saw the North American release of the PSP's 2.00 update.